Arjen Rudd
Minister Arjen "Aryan" Rudd is the main antagonist of the 1989 buddy cop action comedy film Lethal Weapon 2. He is the corrupt and cruel Minister of Affairs for the South African Consulate. He was portrayed by Joss Ackland. Personality Arjen Rudd was the arrogant, cruel and vile Minister of Foreign Affairs at the South African consulate in Los Angeles. He was also a drug dealer and smuggler as well as a counterfeiter. Rudd was openly a racist and despised black people, which was a common thing in the apartheid times. Since he was a diplomat, he had diplomatic immunity and could not be arrested by the police, or even being given a parking ticket, thereby allowing him to use his diplomatic immunity to cover up his crime waves. His men even had the advantage of taking out every cop that were involved in his failed arrest, under his orders. He's also known to be very ruthless, without any signs of pity, remorse, or fear. Doesn't show any signs of forgiving any of his henchmen who fail their assigned missions, like Hans, for example; with the exception of his right-hand man Pieter Vorstedt, however, who was loyal to him and who he advises to deal with the police in any way he can. Physical Appearance Arjen Rudd is a slender fair skinned man, with white hair and blue eyes. He dons a business suit. Role in the film Arjen Rudd is having dinner in his office when one of his henchmen, Hans reports the bad news about losing over a million in krugerrands. Rudd is disappointed with him, but tells him accidents happen and sometimes things don't go as planned; however, he does have his loyal hitman and second-in-command, Pieter Vorstedt to take care of him, which he does by shooting Hans in the head, killing him, and then dispose of his body in the plastic on the floor. Just then, while Vorstedt is wrapping up Hans' body in plastic, he looks through Roger Murtaugh's profile which he had managed to steal, thereby knowing his address, and tells Vorstedt that he's the one in charge. He wants him dealt with, which Vordstedt proposes to warn him off. Vorstedt and his minions arrive at Murtaugh's home later that night, broke in, tied and gagged him and Trish with ductape, and gives him a warning to back off the case, and they took off. The next day, Rudd later discovers the police have arrived at his home and were about to arrest his men. He told them he was not armed, though Riggs checked his jacket and pulled out his credential certifying diplomatic immunity, meaning he cannot be charged, tried, or arrested since his identity has been established. The cops leave the diplomats alone, though Riggs angrily swears he will take him down. As Riggs was leaving, he accidentally bumps head with Rika Van Den Haas, Rudd's secretary. When Riggs picks up her briefcase, he sternly commands him to not open it and to give it back to her. Rudd tells Rika he is a policeman and he and the other cops were just leaving. They continue to chat until Rudd finally calls his secretary over to him. At night, when he drops her off at her home, Rudd warns Rika the police are not to be encountered and to just simply stay away from them, but Rika feels uncomfortable when he touches her hair and she bids him "good night". Later, while driving his car, he encounters Riggs on the road, two times, and after the third time once reaching his consul's building garage, he orders the security guard to get rid of him. Many people were holding signs in front of his eyes, which most of them read about ending Apartheid in South Africa, revealing his racist views for the black Africans of South Africa. Rudd fails to get rid of Riggs, who holds up a sign just like the other protesters right in front of his security camera, since Riggs revealed himself to be a cop to Rudd's security guard. Rudd, later in the day, orders his men to come up and meet him in his office. Riggs managed to sneak in and confronts Rudd and his men in Rudd's office. Riggs criticizes Rudd, saying how he has "got the whole master race right here." Riggs warns Rudd to get out of his country and to go back to South Africa, playing "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" with his gun by shooting his fish tank and letting water spill loose along with the fish. Riggs then leaves happily while Arjen Rudd seeks vengeance, especially since knowing Riggs stole their piece of paper from a slip about the plan on the Alba Varden ship on Thursday. When the police continue to interfere with his affairs, Rudd orders Vordstedt and his henchmen to kill their fellow officers one-by-one. A bomb was secretly implanted in Roger Murtaugh's bathroom on his toilet, but the bomb squad handles the bomb with liquid nitrogen enabling him to jump into the cast iron tub, and the bomb explodes as he survives with the bomb blanket. He later sends in his henchmen in helicopters to attack Riggs' trailer, but they fail to kill Riggs. He also has his accomplice Rika, who had become Riggs' new love interest, killed later on for her betrayal, and she is drowned by Vordstedt and his men at the pier. Riggs and Murtaugh confront Rudd, Vorstedt, and the rest of the South African diplomats on their cargo container ship, the Alba Varden, bound for Cape Town. Riggs and Murtaugh look into the cargo container with Rudd's millions in drug money, and they're trapped inside. Riggs and Murtaugh hot-wire the car that's in the container allowing them to bust out, burning up most of the millions of dollars in the process. Rudd tells Vordstedt and the rest of his men, "Just make sure they're dead." Riggs and Murtaugh get out, and go after the men shooting them down one-by-one. After Riggs kills Vorstedt, all that's left is Rudd, who shows up and shoots Riggs repeatedly and nearly kills him, running out of bullets in the process. When Murtaugh aims his gun at Rudd warning him to drop it and surrender, he holds up his ID, boasting of his "diplomatic immunity" trying to save his own life. Murtaugh ignores this and shoots Rudd in the head, declaring that "it's just been revoked." Relationships Quotes Gallery Trivia Category:Characters Category:Live-action characters Category:Humans Category:Warner Bros. characters Category:Lethal Weapon characters Category:Deceased characters Category:Villains Category:Warner Bros. villains Category:Live-action villains Category:Males Category:Antagonists Category:Main antagonists Category:Adults Category:American characters